GiantBoyDetective

This a very important PSA, so I'm bringin' in the big guns - kittens AND puppies. Listen up.

There seems to be some animosity brewing on the surface of TAY lately and it's time I address it. Recently I have posted multiple PSAs and guiding articles about a new TAY review format, as well as how to get featured by Kotaku in their daily roundup and cross features. The issue is that some people are taking these articles as direct commands, rather than suggestions, despite the fact that I state in every piece that they are completely optional. People say they are feeling pressure to write more professional articles, and I'm sorry they feel that way. Just write the best you know how and leave the rest up to fate when it comes to being featured and all that (assuming you want to be).

There are people who feel that I'm pushing professionalism on TAY, and that I'm expecting everyone to fall in line. What I'm actually doing (or attempting to do) is outlining how to be more professional if you want to be featured and such, but I do not expect everyone to use these guidelines. Far from it. I didn't even expect many people to pick up The TAY Review format, but lo and behold they did. People even took it and made it their own, which is great. It's simply an option, should you want it. You don't have to use any of my advice or assets if you don't want to. I will harbor no ill will towards you, assuming you're not attacking others with your articles or posting gibberish to the front page for not reason.

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There are people on TAY who just want to hang out and shoot the breeze about games, anime, and life in general. That's completely fine. There are also those who are trying to write thought provoking articles and get some exposure. Also, completely fine. Even more people fall in the middle. People who write thought provoking articles, but just to start conversation amongst the regulars. There are all types here in TAY.

What everyone needs to realize is that both extremes exists in the TAY universe and you need to accept that. Chill folks who want TAY to be the forum it used to be, you have to accept that members of the community want to promote us elsewhere and get us more traffic. People who want TAY to be the next big gaming website with millions of viewers, you have to accept that TAY will always be a place of free expression where people can come to just hang out and gab about whatever. TAY is a hybrid, and it has the capacity to host both types of people and everyone in between. Be nice to each other. For the love of Glob, be nice to each other. It's not that hard to state your opinion with a cool head and have a polite conversation about both sides of the issue. The last thing we need is more TAY drama.

TAY folk, do what you want on TAY, as long as you are representing the site and yourself in a way you're proud of. You can have all the opinions you want on what ever you want. I'm not some all powerful being who is constantly judging you and shaking his head in disgust. Quite the opposite. I love that TAY is so diverse and silly. Please don't stop anything you enjoy doing on TAY due to the actions of others (unless it's starting fights or aggravating people just to make them mad).

As far as those people who really don't want any exposure to the main site, I'm going to use an idea I heard a while back (from Morie I think?). Make the last tag on your post "Don't Cross" so the Kotaku writers know to NOT promote your article to the main site in any way. Hopefully this will help with any issues one might have with getting featured, or in this case not getting featured.

That's all I have. I hope this PSA results in some overall understanding from everyone who frequents TAY. We're all in this together.